Milk-cooler.



No. 635,903. Patented 0ct.` 3|, |899.

.1. E. STEPHENS.

MILK cocu-zn.

(Application led NO V. 18, 1897.)

(No Model.)

l 34,. ,Hl-MII :mums :Evans co. PHoTo-Lrrno, wAsHmGrnN u c NiTED STATES PATENT rricE,

JAMES E. STEPHENS, OF STONEBURG, TEXAS.

MILK-COOLER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 635,903, dated October 31, 1899.

Application filed November 18, 1897. Serial No. 658,983. (No model.)

Texas, have invented a new and useful Milk.

Cooler, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in refrigerating devices.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of refrigerating devices, more especially milk-coolers, and to provide a simple and inexpensive device having a skeleton rack and a superimposed reservoir, and to enable the latter to support the absorbent spreader on the skeleton rack.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claim hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cooler constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a vert-ical sectional view of the same.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in both iigures of the drawings. I

The reservoir for refrigeratingliquid,which is adapted to be arranged in an elevated position upon a suitable support, as upon the uppermost of a tier of vessels containing material to be cooled, consists of a wall or band l, preferably of uniform diameter throughout, and a bottom 2, removably fitted in the lower end of the wall or band, and performing the additional function of a stretcher by which the upper edge of a flexible brous spreader 3 is held in place in the reservoir. The upper edge of the flexible spreader is introduced between the periphery of the removable bottom and the innerA surface of the wall or band of the vessel and projects slightly above the plane of said bottom to absorb moisture from the interior of the latter and convey it through the clamped portion to the loose depending portion of the spreader, which is exposed to atmospheric air. The moisture is conveyed throughout the spreader by capillary attraction, and although the material of the spreader is of loose or open texture the moisture forms a web or film which excludes outside air.

The advantage of the peculiar construction of reservoir above described resides in the fact that the flexible spreader maybe readily attached and displaced to provide for interchanging spreaders when that which has been in use has become inoperative by the accumulation of dust or otherwise.

In the construction illustrated the reservoir is supported by a frame consisting of a plurality of corner-standards 4t, connected transversely in different horizontal planes by cross-bars 5, and upon these cross-bars rest shelves 6, which, however, terminate at their side edges at the inner surfaces of the contiguous standards, and hence short of the side cross-bars, to provide for an upward current of air for the purpose of Ventilating the interior of the frame or rack. In the construction illustrated this rack is spread toward its bottom by the downward divergence of the standards, the space between the upper extremities of the standards being slightly less than the diameter of the reservoir and being connected by rest-bars 7, npon which said reservoir is seated. The spreader depends from the reservoir and surrounds the rack, the edges of the former being secured at one of the corners of the frame by any suit-able holding devices, such as pins S, projecting from the contiguous standard of the frame.

Obviously the specific construction of the rack or frame may be varied to provide the desired capacity; but the form which I have found to be convenient under ordinary conditions of' use is one in which the skeleton frame, consisting of the standards and crossbars, is flared slightly toward the bottom, said skeleton frame being wholly outside of and projecting beyond the edges of the shelves, whereby a free upward circulation of the air inclosed within the flexible spreader is maintained.

The wall or band of the reservoir is preferably of uniform diameter throughout and is also of pliable sheet metal, whereby it is adapted to yield in applying the removable bottom to accommodate slight inequalities in the interposed portion of the flexible spreader. Obviously this diametrical yielding of the IOO wall or band adapt-s the latter to fit snugly around the fabric-enveloped periphery of the removable bottom to prevent an excessive flow of liquid from the vessel.

Various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit or saeriiicing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim is A device of the class described comprising a skeleton frame or rack composed of the np- Wardly-converging standards, the horizontal cross-bars connecting the standards, and the vertical series of shelves supported by the cross-bars and terminating short of opposite sides of the skeleton frame or rack to provide Ventilating openings or spaces extending from the top to the bottom of therdevice, a cylindrical receptacle or reservoir arranged vertically at the top of the frame or rack and being of greater diameter than the same at that point and provided With a removable bottom extending entirely across it and pro vided with a depending peripheral flange resting upon the top of the frame or rack at the corners thereof and iitting Within the reservoir or receptacle, and the ilexible absorbent spreader arranged on the exterior of the rack or frame, extending from the top to the bottom of the same and having its upper edges interposed between the end faces of the walls of the reservoir or receptacle and the said depending ilange, whereby it is extended into the reservoir or receptacle and is supported in position on the rack or frame, said spreader having its edges detachably connected at one of the corners of the rack or frame, whereby access may be had to the latter without disconnecting the spreader from the receptacle or reservoir, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto allixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

JAMES E. STEPHENS.

Witnesses:

B. J. SMITH, Jr., l). V. SNUFFER. 

